Till Death Do Us Part
by Dana Lise
Summary: Agent Coulson's funeral. When everyone is crying, even Natasha. Wait...Natasha's crying? And why is Clint acting strangly? What does Steve not know about the Marksman? Read to find out : please do review and enjoy!


"What are you saying?" Clint asked Natasha, the look she gave him was one of sympathy. All the years Clint had known her he had never seen her cry; when she had been torn away from everything she ever loved and had her husband turned against her, she didn't even shed a tear. But now, it was as if the damns had broken and every tear she hadn't shed then was spilling over and trickling down her cheeks. "I-I'm so sorry Clint, Furry said they did everythi-"

He tuned it out, because this wasn't happening, this _couldn't_ be happening. Phil was still alive, and everyone was just playing a cruel trick on him; because Phil could _not_ be gone. This wasn't how it was supposed to go. It was always the two of them, always.

Back when he was first recruited into S.H.E.I.L.D, even before the Avengers initiative. They would get into scraps on the occasion, but they would always both make it out _alive_ and that's all that had mattered before, that after being bruised and bandaged up, they were both still standing. Clint had known though, it couldn't last forever.

* * *

"Hey, what's wrong with Clint?" Steve asked, and he found three sets of eyes looking at him; Tony with a sad smile, Natasha with tear stained cheeks and Bruce not quite as emotional as the others, but you could just _tell_ that something wasn't right. I mean sure they had lost someone on the mission, an important person; truth be told even Steve was hurt by the loss. Steve wouldn't have thought anything of it, but he saw how Natasha, who never cries, had been just an hour earlier.

"I don't think any of us have the right to answer that." Natasha whispered, excusing herself. It had been two days since their mission, during which Phil was pronounced dead, needless to say they were all going to be attending a funeral today.

* * *

They all took turns, one by one they walked up, said a few words and if they had something they wanted buried with him, they placed the item inside. Steve was the first; he walked up and gently placed all of Phil's Captain America cards next to him. Then came Natasha, all she had was a letter, no one asked what was in it. That was too personal, and then came Tony and Bruce; they both said there thanks and goodbye's and went to sit back down, the last person up was Clint.

From where Steve was siting it looked like he was barley holding it together, like the only thing that kept him moving were some unseen strings of a puppeteer. As he stopped in front of the casket a tear rolled down his cheek and he whispered a few words and smiled. He sat back down next to Steve and more tears began to flow.

"I guess I should tell you too," Clint said, "You must be wondering why Natasha's been blubbering like a whale over there." Steve smiled, and even though Natasha heard and was slightly pissed, she wasn't going to yell at him when this was the most normal she'd seen him since he got the news.

Clint could feel Steve's eyes on him, and he knew he needed to tell him because everyone else had known. But he still wasn't sure how the Captain would react. He couldn't find the words, so instead, he took hold of the chain that was hidden under his shirt, the one he always wore, and gently slid it over his head, most people thought it was dog tags or one of the arrowheads Clint had collected; but what was held by the chain was much more dear to Clint's heart. He gestured for Steve to hold his hand out, and he obeyed. Clint then placed the chain and its contents in the palm of Steve's hand, it gently coiled up and all Steve did for a while was look at it, for the two items on the chain were matching rings, wedding rings.

He glanced up, a look of curiosity on his face, Clint just smiled and nodded, Steve inspected both rings carefully. Each one had an engraving; Steve couldn't believe they had managed to keep something like this from him. How could he not have known? Steve realized that he never had paid much attention to the marksman or the agent, but to not have caught on to this…he felt awful.

After Clint got the rings back from Steve he slid the chain back over his head, where it rested comfortable around his neck, dangling there for once without the fabric of his shirt hiding it. Clint wasn't going to hid it anymore; he would display it and cherish everything that the ring had once ment; still ment.

* * *

As the day came to a close and Clint found himself lying on the bed he had shared with Phil, he wondered how he had even gotten there. He thought about a lot of things actually, and one in particular. The fact that when he and Phil had made their vows, Clint had thought when they had said 'tell death do us part' it was a distant possibility, but now lying here alone without Phil's arms wrapped loosely around him, Clint couldn't help but think, 'Why did you have to go?'

For a brief moment, Clint had hoped he would hear Phil answer him, in the voice he only reserved for Clint and Clint only. But as he drifted off to sleep, he realized he wouldn't hear that voice ever again.

* * *

A/N: Reviews? Maybe? I hope you liked this, I just had to write something on Phil dying...although honestly I still haven't come to terms with it yet...I'm still in the grieving process, and I saw the movie a day after it came out.


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